Cyber Monday is far from over, but analytics show a combination of harsh winter weather and the popularity of shopping via smartphone is putting the day on track for $9.4 billion in sales, which is nearly 19 percent year-over-year growth. Cyber Monday had already reached $473 million in online sales as of 9 a.m. EST […]
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MAGAnomics – U.S. Black Friday Online Consumer Spending $5.4 Billion (+22%)…
Jumpin’ ju-ju bones…. Keep in mind as you review these numbers – U.S. consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of total U.S. GDP. The sales numbers from Thanksgiving and Black Friday are exceptionally strong, showing confidence by consumers this holiday season. This is not the ‘recession’ we were promised by pundits. Continued strong wage growth amid […]
3rd Quarter U.S. GDP Growth Revised Upward, Durable Goods Orders Increase, New Home Sales Increase 31.6% Year-over-Year…
More signs the U.S. economy is very strong show up today as several key economic indicators defy prior economist predictions. Staring with a significant upward revision by the Bureau of Economic Analysis for the third quarter GDP growth from 1.9% to 2.1% – The revision to GDP reflected upward revisions to inventory investment, business investment, […]
USMCA Rumblings – After Letter from Mexico to Pelosi, USTR Lighthizer, FM Seade and FM Freeland Meet in DC…
Something is shaping up in the political background around the USMCA. Yesterday Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador (AMLO) sent a second letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging USMCA ratification. Team Trump and Team AMLO are working together against Team Pelosi & AFL-CIO Richard Trumka. Essentially AMLO has been saying the labor provisions within the […]
Who Pays the Tax on Imports from China?…
Tariffs are a form of taxation. Indeed, before the 1920s, tariffs (or customs duties) were typically the largest source of funding for the U.S. government. Of little interest for decades, tariffs are again becoming relevant, given the substantial increase in the rates charged on imports from China. U.S. businesses and consumers are shielded from the […]
It’s Official: JPMorgan Chase Is the Riskiest Big Bank in the U.S….
The National Information Center is a little-known repository of bank data collected by the Federal Reserve. It is part of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), which was created by federal legislation to create uniformity in the examination of U.S. financial institutions by the numerous federal regulators of banks. Quietly, the National Information Center […]
Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi: “There is no way out for the zero-sum games of the United States. Only win-win cooperation between China and the United States is the right path”…
I can’t stop laughing…. just too darned funny. CTH has long outlined how President Trump has taken the decades-long panda-mask game/approach of Beijing and mirrored it right back upon them. Today Chinese Coucillor Wang Yi, while delivering a strongly worded statement to G20 ministers, is positively verklempt in his open admission therein. Our President Trump […]
The Disturbing Advance Men for the Fed’s $3 Trillion (and Counting) Wall Street Bailout…
As you may have noticed by now, Wall Street On Parade is not buying the narrative that the $3 trillion that the New York Fed has pumped out to the trading houses on Wall Street since September 17 is part of routine open market operations that the Fed is legally allowed to do. We are […]
Old Americans to Inherit “Unprecedented Amount That Is Incomprehensably Large”…
When it comes to the generational conflict at the heart of America’s inequality split, there is no contest: the elderly – those between the ages of 65 and 75 who own the bulk of financial assets – have over 13 times as much wealth as America’s Millennials (see chart below), young people between 25 and […]
Deutsche Bank to Replace 18,000 Workers with Robots…
…”Mark Matthews, head of operations for Deutsche’s corporate and investment bank, told Financial News that machine learning algorithms “massively increased productivity” and “redistribute capacity.” The London-based news organization said that Deutsche is pushing to “automate large parts of its back-office” via a new strategy called “Operations 4.0,” as part of its $6.6 billion savings initiative […]
Deceitful Nancy Pelosi Hides Behind Richard Trumka as Excuse for Not Ratifying USMCA….
The U.S. multinationals on Wall Street do not want the USMCA to pass because they don’t want President Trump to have leverage that allows him to continue the fight against China and the EU. It is a simple dynamic, USMCA ratification makes the Wall Street prior investments in China worth less. In all of these […]
Is the Fed Secretly Bailing Out a Major Bank?…
The promise of something for nothing is always an enticing proposition. Who doesn’t want roses without thorns, rainbows without rain, and salvation without repentance? So, too, who doesn’t want a few extra basis points of yield above the 10-year Treasury note at no added risk? Thus, smart fellows get after it; pursuing financial innovation with […]
New Jersey Orders Uber to Pay $650 Million in Employment Taxes for Drivers…
Uber has been ordered to pay close to $650 million in employment taxes in New Jersey after the state’s department of labor said the ride-sharing company misclassified its drivers as independent contractors, according to a Bloomberg report. Bloomberg Law first reported Thursday that New Jersey has hit Uber and subsidiary Rasier LLC with $523 million […]
The Rake…
In a poker game, the rake is the cut that the casino dealer takes out of every pot. It’s usually a couple of dollars per hand … barely noticeable, certainly not noticeable to a casual poker player like me. But what if the dealer started taking 18-25% out of every pot as his rake? Would […]
The Fed Has Created the Big Lie for Congress on its Repo Loans while the New York Fed Blocks Freedom of Information Requests…
Yesterday Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. Only one Congressman, Kenny Marchant (R-TX), had the courage to ask Powell about the Fed’s intervention in the repo loan market beginning on September 17. Since that time the Fed has been pumping hundreds of billions of dollars each week (that […]
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JPMorgan Has Radically Changed Its Balance Sheet, Shrinking Its Cash at the Fed by $145 Billion…
JPMorgan Chase is not a bank that federal regulators can simply put on autopilot and hope for the best. When the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations conducted a formal probe into how the bank lost $6.2 billion of its federally-insured bank’s deposits by gambling in derivatives in London in 2012, the Chair of the […]
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Weak 2019 Earnings Growth Paves the Way for Strong 2020 Earnings Picture, Boosting Stocks…
Earnings in 2019 are setting a low bar to clear in 2020, paving the way for stocks to continue their record-setting rally, according to Wall Street strategists. Third-quarter earnings are slated to see a 2.4% drop from last year’s third quarter, according to DataTrek Research. The first and second quarter saw 0.4% declines in earnings […]
The Fed’s Repo Bailout and JPMorgan’s 38 Trading Floors…
Since September 17 of this year, the central bank of the United States, the Federal Reserve, has been pumping hundreds of billions of dollars each week to unnamed trading firms on Wall Street. We know the loans are going to trading firms because the loans are being made to the 24 primary dealers (see list […]
Small Business ‘Optimism’ at Record High, Up 160 Percent…
A national economic optimism index of small business owners is at its highest level ever, up 162% since the final months of President Obama’s two terms. The Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index is at +142 compared to +54 at the end of the Obama administration. “When owners are asked a broad question about their financial […]
U.S. Dollar Faces the Threat of Being Displaced by China’s Digital Currency…
From a dictation of a blanket ban on all crypto activities and digital currencies as tools for retail payments, including access to international exchange platforms in 2018, to recent declaration of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to launch a central bank-backed digital currency (CBDC) by November 11, 2019, China has come a long way. […]